Ideas@TheCentre
A successful 'Australian' film
An academic study released this week argues the arts should be embedded in the teaching of all subjects to cultivate the creativity and imagination of Australian schoolchildren. This comes as the federal government is developing a national arts curriculum that will make drama, dance, music, visual art or 'media arts' classes compulsory for two hours each week for every student up to Year 8.
The next act in this production can be foreshadowed.
The tsars of Australia's cultural protectionist industry are likely to climb down from their taxpayer-funded perches and demand mandatory 'Australian content' rules. The tired but effective rhetoric about the importance of 'Australian voices,' which helped keep the ban on the parallel importation of books in place last year, will be heard once more.
The arguments against the cultural protectionist racket are irrefutable. Not only are higher costs imposed on both consumers and taxpayers but, worse, the 'grant-seeking' culture it creates is a creativity killer. Only the projects considered ideologically sound get the go-ahead from the arts bureaucrats in charge of the funding bodies.
And yet the racket is underpinned by a sentiment that is undoubtedly true. There is no doubt many Australians want to read books and see films that are distinctively Australian. But it is equally true that, taxpayer-funded Australian movies tend to be the last thing most Australians want to watch, as the perpetually dire state of the local film industry testifies.
These truths are reinforced by the success of the British film The King's Speech in Australia.
If the audience I saw the film with is anything to go by, Australians have flocked to see Geoffrey Rush's endearing portrayal of the Australian speech therapist, Lionel Logue.
Rush's Logue is quintessentially and unmistakably Australian. His wit is dry and wry. He doesn't take himself seriously and is no respecter of titles. He is friendly, practical and uncomplicated. In other words, the kind of Australian one rarely sees in a taxpayer-funded Australian film.
Before looking for another boondoggle, the cultural elite should watch The King's Speech. They will see the kind of Australian culture that Australians want to see – and are willing to pay for.
Dr Jeremy Sammut is a Research Fellow at The Centre for Independent Studies.
